


The Storm 雷电

by TheHoplessRomantic



Series: The Storm [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Chinatown, Chinese Character, Chinese Language, Gen, Martial Arts, San Francisco, Supernatural - Freeform, black mgaic, sorcery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2019-10-12 01:45:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17458241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHoplessRomantic/pseuds/TheHoplessRomantic
Summary: After leaving Hong Kong to escape their violent past, twin teenage siblings Leixia and Xian are trying to fit into their new home with their grandfather in San Francisco's Chinatown. However, their past can never be truly left behind, and there are times when they must address this, and even confront it. And when things get violent, there are some things only sorcery can handle.





	1. Meet the Twins

"You're such an idiot!"

A teenage girl of Chinese descent walked infuriatingly down the stairs of her home and into the back was wearing a golden yellow blouse and short denim stomped across the carpet on bare shouting was heard loud and clear through the entire restaurant which was thankfully empty.

What she was shouting about became apparent as a boy her age came tumbling down the stairs behind her, carrying what looked like a catholic school uniform but it was spotty with white splotches instead of black.

The boy had short black hair and wore a green t-shirt that was designed to look like a karate uniform, complete with nonexistent sash on the bottom edge."I told you I'm sorry Leixia!I tend to forget about the washing rules and all that!"

The girl, Leixia, stopped and turned to face her brother in front of the register at the entrance of the was obviously beside herself, hotter than molten jabbed a finger on his chest, "Nǐ zěnme néng yòng piǎobái jì dàitì féizào!?"*

The old habit of reverting to their native Chinese was a result of Leixia's temper getting out of being in the United States for only three months her transition between languages was flawless and would have impressed many had it not been over a simple laundry mistake.

Little brother Xian however was not to be out done.""Nàme nǐ zài píngzi shàng tiēbiāoqiān zěnme yàng?"**He argued back.

"This was the only uniform the school could send me right have school starting soon, I don't want to look like I was—"

"Bleached?Honestly you look better when you're looking less noble," Xian said with a light laugh."Besides, it doesn't help you look pretty to begin with."

Leixia didn't find it funny at didn't like looking anything more than humble and since she and her brother were to start school the following week she had taken the liberty of ordering her uniform early so she could get used to the trying it on though she made the mistake of leaving it in the laundry room and the result was rather obvious this had happened after she had given a speech of how they could make a good first day at the school if they at least tried to look decent.

Xian and his laid back and carefree attitude however, made it impossible for her to explain the logic of how one's appearance could lead to a good impression."You really should be less uptight about that, we have a full weekend to get you a new one, what's the big deal?"

Leixia put her hands on her hips, her long raven hair was braided into a tail and was over her right shoulder."You know this could benefit you if you took it more seriously."

He wasn't impressed, "And be as uptight as you are?No thanks."

This shouting match continued for more than a minute, neither twin wanting to give into the other without a ended as abruptly as it started when their foreheads smacked together, their heads having been brought together though it had not been of their own power.

The reason behind that was because of their grandfather, who stood between his two grandchildren and had gone unnoticed until now.

Both teens recoiled from the disciplinary act, and from first glance Xian got the worst of it as he had bent down and cradled his head in his hands."Damn it, grandpa!What was that for?"

Wearing a dark green suit and slacks and being shorter than them, Fan Long was the walking epitome of never judge a book by its being a grandparent he didn't have a wrinkle on his face, only his short white hair and small mustache gave any indication of his age, and even then the twins were unable to know exactly how old their grandfather was, yet they never thought to ask out of respect.

Added in the fact that he had appeared without either of them noticing didn't seem to bother the usual, it was a habit that only their grandfather seemed to have.

The old man smiled, "Shouting could be heard from two are louder than a thunderstorm."

The twins did not fail to see the irony in that metaphor.

Leixia bowed her head in shame, "Sorry grandfather."

Xian stood up and did the same, "Yeah, sorry about that."

Their grandfather raised his hands and placed them on the shoulders of his did without a further word."Apologize for something bigger, makes a bigger with me."

He turned and started to head back to the kitchen, and the twins dutifully followed, shoving and pushing each other with almost every step they took.

He led them to the break room on the back of the restaurant."Now then, the restaurant will be opening soon, and since you won't be starting school for a few weeks, you can continue to help out here."He handed the twins a pair of paper bags.

She looked inside hers, and seemed surprised at the deep red uniform inside it, "we're to be waiters?"

Xian saw his uniform in his bag and his shoulders noticeably sagged."What's this crap?"

Their surprise was genuine, as even though they had lived with their grandfather for nearly six months they had never had the option to work in the arriving from China they had spent their time getting used to the customs of Chinatown, as well as trying to enroll in a was that or get a job but they were not of age yet that left only one option open.

Grandpa nodded once, "Consider it a punishment for both of you."

Leixia's shrugged her shoulders, "Should have seen this coming Xian."

"Again, you should have put labels on the damn bottles."

The girl wanted to retort, but she swallowed her words when she saw the warning look her grandfather was giving her." 'll Xian?"

She looked over her shoulder, but he was already sound of heavy footsteps on the floor above gave away his he didn't feel like doing his new job.

Leixia sighed before going to retrieve her brother.

An hour after being dragged down from his room by his sister, Xian was really starting to not like his new was tedious and slow, but at least he could keep himself moving by doing the trash and taking preferred jobs that kept him moving, and it kept him from thinking too much, which was far more distracting than his daydreaming at course he had to keep his mouth shut about it otherwise Leixia or his seemingly omnipresent grandpa would reprimand him.

Keeping himself moving wasn't hard restaurant was more active tonight than he had seen being Friday and all he wasn't that restaurant known as the White Tiger was a popular spot in Chinatown though it wasn't a popular go-to place for anyone outside of Chinatown it got its fair share of activity.

Xian finished taking an order and went to relay to the he reached the back counter he ran into his sister who was just coming out from the kitchen.

She grabbed a tray and noticed her brother, "How are things going?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Slow, but I guess that's what we get for being the only two waiters here, eh?"

The White Tiger was a small establishment, only big enough for six rooms and could hold as many as thirty people at full the first room after the entrance was two long tables next to the salad bar made for ten to twelve the other rooms there were white circular tables that could hold four people was a quaint place with that Asian charm most people tend to like, though this was more than aesthetic charm, it was the real White Tiger had been a part of the family for multiple generations, going back to the time of Chinatown's founding.

"I don't think the restaurant is big enough for more than a few of saves grandfather money as well."Leixia fixed the buttons on the front of her White Tiger standard uniform was a short sleeve cardinal red dress shirt with the imprint of the white tiger head on the back, and Leixia wore a loose black skirt that reached her knees and black had the same shirt but he wore black 's hair was put up in a bun on the back of her head and a single long loose tail of her hair went down from it to her was a style unique to her and no one else had still looked good even when dressed for work, and Xian didn't understand how that worked with so little effort, but that was his sister for you.

Xian sighed, "How much longer of this do we have to put up with?My feet are starting to get sore."

Looking at her watch on her right wrist, Leixia knew he wasn't going to like the answer."Another two hours, then it will be closing time."

His mouth dropped, "Two?!For the love of—"

"Nǐ huì huózhe, xiànzài ràng wǒmen huíqù gōngzuò ba***," Leixia said, not just because she didn't want to hear her brother's complaints, but also she'd rather hear him complain in anything other than good for business if customers heard the staff complain.

Xian sighed, his frown wasn't hidden, "Zhè jiāng shì yīgè màncháng de yèwǎn...****"

The doorbell went off and Leixia grabbed the tray, giving one last bit of advice to her brother, "Smile more, it'll help pass the time."

After greeting the new arrivals and leading them to their table, Leixia went about her took a moment for Xian to get his feet moving again, and they dragged less than before.

Xian went to clean a few tables near the front of the he did he sometimes lost his concentration and looked out the large windows out into the of his latest he noticed a group of three men walking towards the three were Caucasian, wore black and white jackets, and appeared to be in their late teens to early really out of the ordinary about them, though Xian didn't like the swagger they had as they walked through the kept his eyes on them after they entered.

Right away they acted in a way that disturbed ignored the waitress that had greeted them and went to a table near the were loud and quickly upset the customers in their immediate vicinity.

Per the rules of the establishment if they made too much of a ruckus they would be asked to quiet more warnings and they would be asked to leave, but it was made apparent to Xian at least that they weren't going to be quiet.

Knowing that his sister would want him to go and try and quiet them down, Xian popped his neck and felt like his day was going to get worse.

The moment she saw her brother going towards the front tables was when Leixia stopped serving one of the other waitresses to take over for her, she instantly went towards the front while trying to look the tables while she overheard her brother attempt to calm down the new arrivals.

Needless to say negotiation was not her brother's strong suit. He was used to speaking his mind and being honest about it, but he more often than not caused more trouble than he prevented to mention he was often reckless and didn't really think before he spoke.

So in essence she was waiting for the situation to explode.

She didn't catch what he said after he had asked them to quiet down but what she did see was one of them give her brother the bird with his left saw Xian ignore that, but he stood tall when another of the three hoodlums stood up to Xian, towering over him by at least a foot and looked to be sizing him was the last straw for big sister Leixia, who immediately moved in to help diffuse the situation before it became too volatile.

She walked up to the table, tray in hands and a half smile on her face, "Hello, and welcome to the White may I serve you?"

The one guy sitting closest to where Leixia stood grinned obnoxiously up at her."Uh, yeah, we'd like to have the special, three plates of it."

Leixia took down the notes, "Anything else?"

She didn't see it but the bonehead leaned back in his chair to get a look at Leixia's back, specifically the curve of her lower back and expression was easily readable with his mouth making an O and liking what he friends were smitten with Leixia, or more so her physique than anything.

He leaned back in time for her to ask, "Do you want anything else?"

The guy shook his head but kept that stupid smile on his face.

Leixia wasn't had a feeling that something lewd was possibly going on but as she was trying to be professional and prevent trouble Leixia felt she couldn't do anything about , she would try to the best of her ability.

She cast a glance at her brother and she saw that he was tense, like he was ready for a had seen that look many times in their karate could keep her temper in check for sure, but Xian...he could be emotional when pushed to a certain limit.

"Alright, I'll be right back."She turned around she tapped Xian's shoulder as a signal to follow took him a moment, slight hesitation, but he twins moved to the front counter, far enough away from the table so none of the hoodlums could hear gave the order to the cook and it would be ready immediately."Xian, you should let me handle this."

The young teen slowly exhaled, "I can't help but feel...like I'm gonna explode."

"Keep the memories at bay, the tables in the back of the restaurant and I will deal with them," she replied in a low voice, taking the newly prepared pulled her brother closer to her and whispered, "And keep your emotions in check."

He gave her a look of doubt, but gave her hand an assuring squeeze before moving to the back of the room.

Leixia grabbed the food and took them to the table for the they were breaking one of the rules of the restaurant by smoking, which was what the lewd one was doing as she approached the table.

She stopped and gave the guy a stern look, "No smoking in here, please."

He smiled at her, "Sorry."He put it out by smashing it on the friends laughed.

Leixia shook her head and bent forward to place the tray on the moment she did was when things went wrong.

She set the tray down and felt air on the back of her she could fully realize that she felt a hand firmly grab her hip under her skirt.

Normal reaction to an unwanted grope would have been a squeal and subsequent smack to the assailant from the female , however, was not a normal girl.

She stood up slowly with the tray in her left hand balancing three glasses of water, her expression showing how cross she was but she didn't do anything about least not yet.

"Would you not?"

The obvious harsh tone in her voice seemed to go unnoticed by the three, the lewd guy who had been eyeballing her before was the one with the hand on her expected.

"Just enjoying dessert a little early, honey."

She smacked his hand away, the guy across the table stood up and got close to was a smoker as well as she could smell it.

"We'll take dessert to go," he said with a snicker.

Leixia's eyes narrowed, "I'm not a dish for you to enjoy."

The guy who had groped her before reached for her again.

This time Leixia would not allow had finally had enough.

With the tray in her left hand she tossed it up into the air, glasses and all, and what happened next happened so fast that the three didn't see it coming.

After tossing the tray into the air Leixia grabbed the groper by the wrist, pressing her thumb into the pressure point where the wrist met the hand and twisted it back guy howled in pain and was soon tossed out of his seat and onto his back on the guy sitting next to the groper tried to stand but Leixia's athletic flexibility allowed her to kick him with her right leg across the was forced back into his last one standing in front of her had his eyes on the tray and was unable to notice Leixia's kicked him square in the chest and he flew back a few feet before landing on the settled onto her feet in time to catch the tray with her right hand, as well as the three glasses when they landed on the tray fixed her skirt with her left hand, appearing to be as casual as one could look after what had transpired.

"What the hell?!" said the guy who was now nursing a badly bruised jaw.

The other hoodlum, the lewd one who was lying on the ground, had an expression that showed how surprised he was that a petite girl had just handled him with relative ease not to mention just socked his friends without moving a step from where she stood."You stupid bitch—"

He tried to get back up but she stomped her left foot onto his sternum to pin him down.

She peered down at him, looking guy felt like he was looking up at an angry god upon a mountain top and he felt tiny in comparison. "Liú xiàlái."*****

The third guy who had been kicked across the floor got back to his feet and charged at Leixia in a blind didn't get far as Xian stretched out his leg and the guy fell flat on his face and chest and his nose broke on started to ooze from his nostrils and he was whining in pain.

Xian had silently approached the area without his sister's knowledge, intending to give her a hand if she needed 'd berate him later for getting involved, but she was out-numbered at the moment and another set of hands would be teenage boy went and kneeled next to the guy his sister was standing over, "My sister basically said for you to stay down or you'll regret it."

That translation wasn't totally true, only half right to be exact, but that wasn't the 's martial arts had proven the point regardless of what words she spoke afterward.

"I will now ask to leave, and not come back," she said in a threatening tone.

The three were still like statues, frozen in nothing short of fear.

"Or else we'll hurt you for real," said Xian, standing back up.

The guy Xian had tripped made his exit quickly, as did the one with the loose scrambled over the table ignoring the pleas of his remaining friend and ran just left the guy who had groped Leixia, who was currently under the girl's foot and her heel was digging into his chest causing him a stinging that Leixia was pressing down as well as putting a majority of her weight on him made the pain let up long enough for him to scurry away, and without saying a word he followed his friends where the twins stood they saw the troublesome trio run across the street like their lives depended on it.

Leixia set the tray on the now empty table and fixed her skirt while her brother appeared awfully pleased with himself despite doing very little in the confrontation was more pleased to have gotten rid of the trouble makers without too much of an incident, though the fact that they had crossed paths with his sister's temper made the outcome even sister wasn't a girl to cross on her best day, but to make her mad enough to strike a few idiots was a sight to behold.

"You handled those guys with ease, sis," he said giving a nod of approval.

Leixia however didn't seem to be rejoicing what she had just gone through."Don't be like that."

"What's wrong?They won't be coming back anytime soon thanks to what we did—"

Leixia gave an easily audible sigh that cut her brother's sentence short, "The fact that we stood up to them could mean trouble in the future."

"What do you mean?"

"Typical gangs are not just three are always and stronger ones in the hierarchy than those stood up to them, and now they have reason to seek is what I am worried about."

Despite the clear and calculated message his sister had explained to him, Xian didn't seem the least bit worried."Sounds like the cliché plot to a 90s action film to me."

"Be serious, Xian."

Xian shook his head, and finally broke the ice on something that he had been wanting to say for quite a while, though he spoke in a whisper so only his sister could hear."You know if it ever got that serious, we only need to use the power of the Storm."

The expression Leixia gave when she heard that was one of horror."Never!That would be too much, not to mention get us into even more Storm is not to be used so meaninglessly."

Xian huffed, "What's the point of having that power if we can't use it for anything?"

"You know why," his sister fired back.

"That should not be what worries you."

The twins stopped and turned to see their grandfather standing behind had gone completely unnoticed for the last minute, having snuck up on his two grandchildren shortly after the fight had was holding a menu against his chest.

"Grandfather!We didn't notice you," Leixia said, clearly surprised, as was her sincerely hoped that he didn't hear their was expecting a tirade immediately after this.

Instead she was met with something else.

"While you two were dealing with one table, I was taking care of three others."

Leixia shook her head and didn't bother wasn't a need to do so, as her grandfather had no doubt seen all that had gone merely bowed her head in shame.

He put his hand on his granddaughter's shoulder, "No need to be that way, Leixia, you handled them accordingly."

He then turned to Xian, "As for you Xian, you showed restraint before and chose not to lay a finger on that I commend —"He tapped Xian's arm lightly, "No need for trash talk when you did very little."The old man went around and back towards the kitchen, and heard his grandchildren quietly laughing behind him. "Please return to your duties or else I'll punish you some more."

A/N: Chinese translations are directly from Google Translate, and are as follows:

*How could you use bleach instead of soap?!

**How about you put labels on the bottles then?

***You'll live, now let's get back to work.

****This is going to be a long night…

*****Stay put.


	2. Don't Mess with Leixia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins go about doing their job, but some things they know never seem to change, for better or worse. Leixia herself gets a first hand experience with a group of ruffians and reacts accordingly.

Because of their previous aggression while the restaurant was open the twins were put on after hour's consisted of their grandfather letting members of the staff off work early and put the twins to work had done the trash while his sister had cleaned up the wash that they double teamed the cleaning of the tables to get that done it was quickly approaching nine in the evening and it was pure dark outside, there was one more chore for them to do before they could call it a day.

It came from their grandfather as soon as he was done emptying the cash asked the twins to meet him near the front door after grabbing their they arrived looking visibly perplexed, the old man gave each of them a piece of the papers were lists of items needed for the store."There is still time before we lock up the restaurant for the night, would you both please go to the market and pick up a few things?"

Xian looked his list up and down and just for curiosity's sake took a quick glance at his sister' noticed something peculiar."Uh, grandpa, all this stuff is from the same not just have it as one list?"

Leixia didn't respond, instead putting the list in the front pocket of her white panda hoodie she wore over her her outward appearance of a modest girl that was very mature, Leixia had a soft spot for panda bears ever since she was a , she tried not to show her affection for them in front of others as she was afraid it would make her look childish, but as she needed a coat this was the first one she grabbed and so it will do.

The old man shook his head, "Have it as onemeans less work for both of a half for each of you and it will take longer."He handed each of them a twenty dollar bill to use in their purchases.

"C'mon grandpa it's late and we worked—"

"First one home with all their items checked off their list will receive a double helping of ice cream."

They were both out the door before he had even turned around.

Always worked.

After nearly an hour in the market (most of the time was spent looking for each other after the shopping had concluded), the twins stepped out of the market with a plastic bag in each her credit Leixia had completed her list first and could have made it home before Xian was out of the she wanted to be fair with her baby brother and race him home when he was expecting it.

Xian had trouble because of the variety in his list but it was a task he had taken up with gusto regardless.

He and his sister stood outside the doors of the market, right behind a yellow caution line which would be their starting point.

"Alright…like grandfather said, whoever gets home first gets more dessert," Leixia said, her knees bending for her impending sprint.

Xian had done the same, and though he appeared to be still his toes were curling in anticipation."Anyway to get back to the White Tiger is fair game, except for using the ?"

While the idea of using the rooftops in a foot race would sound absurd to anybody else, the twins knew what they were talking about and were dead serious about nodded once in agreement.

Without even a word the two sped off as fast as their legs could carry them, as well as careful not to mess up the bags of groceries they were had the lead because of her footing but with each turn she made Xian got strides got him closer and closer with each twins followed the same path at first until they reached an alley that was two blocks away from the was here that they split up, Leixia going around the block while Xian went on through an alley.

Nearing the end of the road, Xian slowed down to gather his could see the restaurant in the distance and not a sign of his sister he had to do was cross a street and go down another alley and that bowl of delicious ice cream would be all his.

The thoughts of sweets blinded his eyes but not his ears as he heard a loud laugh coming from further down the alley in the direction he was he could reach the end, separating the last block between him and the White Tiger, from both sides of the alley came out some familiar guys from earlier who had harassed Leixia and paid for three were dressed the same and while Xian didn't feel the need to run at first glance, he saw that they were not alone this other teenagers, all the size of mountains and dressed in intimidating black leather made the very impression of tough and downright aggressive apparent to Xian.

Xian stood up straight and dropped the grocery bags he had been landed with a thud, the eggs inside were promptly crushed on impact.

"Well, look who it waiter boy from earlier," said one of recognized the large bruise on his jaw as the one Leixia had kicked in the face."Hey guys, this twerp warned us not to go back to the Tiger or else."

Though the fact that he was outnumbered did not stray from his mind, Xian remained undaunted, "I didn't say anything like that."He paused, thought about it for a moment, then continued, "Not as a threat anyway, more like advice."

"Without your sister around to do the heavy lifting you're as good as dead," said another thug, this one coming from a new one Xian didn't shrugged his shoulders.

"Sis would be wasting her time with you guys, to be honest," Xian said, 'Not to mention I can take care of this myself.'His confidence wasn't a façade, he believed in his abilities and thought he could handle himself.H didn't need his sister to look out for him all the time.

"You must be really stupid to think you can take all seven of us at once."This came from the guy Xian recognized as the guy he had tripped earlier.

"My sister took on you three pretty much with only one leg and one we went to the same dojo at the same time, there isn't much of a difference in our skill set," Xian said, entering a defensive kung-fu stance."I think I can handle you guys without her."

Such an action predictably got him a jeer and a laugh or two from the group before a thing is only ever seen in movies and not in real life but the cards were had expected as much, but despite the smirk Xian had on his face he was serious about his hadn't spent three years learning in a dojo in Hong Kong to not eventually use what he learned on the had done so before in Hong Kong to a good it was Chinatown's turn.

"So you , we'll humor you, and once we're through with you we'll pay your skank of a sister a visit," this threat came from the third guy that Xian was hard to miss with his left wrist heavily wrapped in was no doubt the one who had groped Leixia would have to hurt him extra for what he had called his sister that in front of him.

Not another word was spoken as the group charged at the lone remained unmoving from his spot until they reached just a gang of thugs there was no sense of finesse or came at him from the front and using kicks and even sweeping their legs out from under them with didn't even use his hands at for the first few found it humorous enough that he found himself smirking at how easy it was to fend them off.

Then they started to bring in weapons.

Xian noticed one of the newer guys bring in a shiny metal baseball bat when he swung it at his ducked it, feeling it just miss the top of his head as he went wasn't the only bat to worry about however as another of the big guys took another swing at him after he dodged the first just missed that one too, the metal made a loud ping when it bounced off the on his feet again Xian delivered a high kick to the first man with the blow got him in the jaw and he was sent scrambling out of the way where two more of his pals came at Xian with nothing but their fists.

Xian blocked their swings with both his of them backed up and the other tried to kick Xian's raised his leg and blocked it with his holding onto the guy's wrist Xian tossed him back over his shoulder and down to the spun in a circle and drove his right fist into an unsuspecting guy's face, breaking his nose and blood oozed down his fell back and went down to the ground.

Six more remained.

One of the guys who brought in a baseball bat took another swing at fared no better than the last time and Xian moved out of the the tip of the bat connected to the ground he put his foot down on it to keep it guy who had swung the bat hadn't been expecting that nor was he expecting a straight punch across his jaw immediately fell to the ground and rolled onto his back, and Xian used him as a step to get further down into the alley for more there were five.

One guy got a rush of adrenaline and tried to tackle bad he noticed it easily and like a matador in the path of a raging bull he got out of the tackler went full speed not to mention head first into the side of a heavy metal dumpster, effectively taking himself out of the there were four.

Too bad Xian didn't see the glass bottle in time before it struck the back of his of the green bottle went flying in all directions, and Xian stumbled forward but remained on his teeth mashed together to try and keep the pain in, not show any weakness but the damage had been -jaw had been aiming for Xian's head but by a mere stroke of luck he missed his intended damage however was still was cut open and blood flowed like a river down Xian's back, turning little areas of his White Tiger uniform a darker shade of red.

Unfortunately that was the beginning of the downward spiral for gathered himself as quickly as possible but the other three hoodlums ganged up on him with fists and form was lost in the chaos and Xian couldn't muster an effective offense and he soon found himself on the ground being pounded down, only being able to cover his head with his arms in an attempt to protect himself from further abuse.

A flurry of kicks from an outside force caused the gang to fall back a few feet, and Xian looked to the black night soon saw Leixia looking down at him, concern and maybe a twinge of disappointment on her face.


	3. Late Night Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With heavy heart Leixia takes a chance to look upon the weapon that has caused her so much grief.

Thunder roared and the small restaurant known as the White Tiger, the walls shook with the rumble and along with the heavy rain pounding against the roof it made sleep difficult for some. Leixia was one of them, as she had been unable to sleep for the last few hours because of the storm outside. She was tired from her work out earlier and should have fallen asleep rather easily but nature had a way of messing with her it seems.

'Damn it...I need to sleep.'

Looking over at the clock on the wall she saw it was just past two in the morning and she sighed loudly. there was a semi loud snoring being heard from above her bed, her younger brother Xian was fast asleep, his snoring almost as loud as the storm raging outside.

Leixia was used to her brother's sleeping habits and could easily sleep through it, but a storm was different.

Lying in bed for sleep to come got boring for her in a hurry, so instead she got up and trying not to disturb her brother she left the bedroom. Dressed in cyan blue pajama shorts and a loose black tank top, Leixia let her eyes adjust to the dark before walking into the hallway in bare feet. She went down to the kitchen to get herself something to drink. Thanks to the constant flashing of lightning she didn't need to turn on the lights to see where she was going.

Taking her time with her glass of water the teenager looked out the window that overlooked her grandfather's backyard. It was hard to see thanks to the heavy falling rain, but that wasn't the point. Earlier in the night Leixia and her brother Xian had been training in the same yard, and while they were supposed to train in friendly ways Leixia took it seriously and took it as a sparring match. And when it came to a fist fight, her brother could hit just as hard as she could--even harder if he was properly motivated. Her forearms and lower legs had bruises that could attest to that, and looking out at the garden made her injuries sting a bit in remembering.

No doubt their grandfather intended to train them again when dawn broke, and Leixia felt as ready as she could be for it when it did arrive.

'But today, he said we were going to try and use them this time,' she remembered. 

Taking her glass back to the kitchen and setting it in the sink Leixia decided to make a detour before returning to her room.

On the first floor of the house there was a room that was a personal artifacts room of items and personal affects her grandfather had brought home with him after each of his visits back home to China. Most of it was ancient artifacts like suits of armor and old weapons he had bought from collectors, all of which were worth thousands of dollars, and the size of the room left a lot of space for him to collect more. 

However, in the back of the room there was a tall red cabinet that reached the ceiling, ornately decorated with Chinese markings on the wooden doors. At one time there was a lock on the door to keep anyone from seeing what was inside, but a small incident between Leixia, Xian, and some street punks ended up with it being broken, and there had yet to be a replacement for it.

Without hesitating Leixia slowly opened the doors and while the cabinet looked like it might have contained something valuable inside, a single glance made most people turn away. Two Chinese jian swords hung on the back wall of the cabinet, both sheathed and looked like they were rusted beyond restoration. 

Leixia knew better, however, as it had been less than a week ago that she had almost used one of the swords in a dire situation. 

The swords had words etched into their sheathes, some of it was ineligible due to how old they were, but all she knew were the names of the weapons. The one in the dark green sheath was known as "Cóng tiānshàng páoxiāo" or the roar of the heavens, but Xian gave it the cooler sounding name of Thunder. The other, which was in a metal blue sheath, had the name of "Zhòng shén zhī nù" which roughly translated to wrath of the gods. Leixia instead gave it the name of Lightning. The name was perfect in a way as whenever she touched the handle she felt like she was grabbing onto a lightning rod, and the last time she had tried to use the sword sparks and small electrical bolts shot out of the blade.

Thunder and Lightning, appropriately together they made the Storm.

Legend has it that these two weapons were responsible for many of the wars in ancient China, created by the gods and infused with their power but stolen by mankind to use in their petty wars. Centuries passed before the swords eventually returned to the gods and were then lost to time.

However, a little over six months ago, Leixia and her brother stole the swords in Hong Kong and a tragic downward spiral followed that led them to Chinatown in San Francisco. Leixia still felt the pain, still feeling like it had happened yesterday, and though they say time heals all wounds, the loss she and her brother felt from that day on had not healed at all.

'All because we got so arrogant...' she thought before closing the doors, sealing the weapons in their storage until they were needed for training. She had never wanted to use the swords again, but it seems destiny always played a cruel hand with her and her brother.

Without another thought the girl turned and left the room, not offering the case another glance as she left.


End file.
